Whats Up With Google+?

I have to admit it, when I first heard that Google was going to take on Facebook with a social network of their own, my first thought was: “I can’t possibly add another social network to the list of sites I already update.”

Seriously, it took me a good six months on Facebook to figure out the difference between my Wall and my News Feeds and that whole Timeline thing still has me confused. I regularly try and keep my Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts up to date but it can be a lot of work.

The lines between Facebook and LinkedIn keep getting blurrier as friends want to be on my LinkedIn and work associates try and friend me. I tell you it’s almost a full time job. I use HootSuite, which is a great program for automatically sending messages to all those platforms, but it feels like cheating.

Google+ kind of looks like Facebook but has a bunch of new words to use, like Circles and Hangouts for example. I DON’T HAVE TIME TO FIGURE ANYTHING ELSE OUT! It’s too much work. And I have to be honest, I haven’t really taken the time to go through it all. So that’s what I am doing now – for all of us. Its easy to get a Google+ account – if you have a Gmail account then you automatically have one. When you log into your Gmail account you will see what I mean. If you want a Google+ account, you can go to https://plus.google.com. The question is: Should you? The big difference is that with Google+, you can choose whoyou want to share these things with. Unlike with Facebook, where posting a link will show up on your profile for all of your 500 “friends” to see, Google+ lets you do things a little differently.

Circles

The creation of Circles is a major part of Google+. This is where you can choose who you want in your contacts. You can have a “Friends Circle,” a “Family Circle,” a “Co-workers Circle,” and even a “People I don’t really like but want to impress” Circle. One of the hardest things about Facebook becoming so popular is that everyone is on it and everyone is friends with you and they get upset when you “unfriend” them. Most of us are friends with a lot of family members and friends on Facebook, and we like seeing what they’re up to, but we don’t always want to share everything with them. Google allows you to choose which people you want in what Circle. You then use those Circles for all of your Google+ activity, which is a pretty good feature.

Hangouts

Hangouts is a cool concept but I’m not really sure will catch on. Hangouts attempt to bring a group of friends together by combining casual meetups with live multi-person video. I’m not sure how useful it will be when everyone is just “hanging out” in different parts of the world, at different times, but the concept is for people to just stop in when they have the time.

Sparks

Sparks is a feature that lets you select certain areas, hobbies, or interests that you like. It’s cool because if you really like, for example, Beatle memorabilia, you can indicate this and let Google work its magic. Google wants to keep people searching for content on its site, so Sparks helps by delivering a “field of highly contagious content from across the Internet” on any topic. You can then share it with a group of friends who will appreciate the news of a new Ringo Drum Set showing up on eBay, unlike the rest of your 786 friends who like the Rolling Stones.

Huddle

Maybe one of the most useful features of Google+ is Huddle, which lets you coordinate with friends and family in real-time. It’s really useful on your phone when you’re trying to plan something out with a group of people. When you’re trying to pick a place to meet, for example, you don’t have to do the whole email Johnny, then call Jessie and text message Frankie. You can just have a flowing conversation with the people you select in your Circle through text messages. I haven’t really used it yet – seems like a lot of work.

Mobile

Mobile is an extremely important platform for Google+, and its mobile features are pretty impressive. In the last quarter of 2011, 36 percent of phones being sold were Android devices, Google+ allows you to add your location to every post so you can share where you are with your Circles. The second feature is Instant Upload, which allows you take a photo and instantly upload it to a private album in the cloud. When you get back to your computer, you can simply click through the photos you uploaded earlier and share them with your Circles. I like this feature a lot.

The biggest problem I have is that all my friends are on Facebook and not on Google+. Until Google figures out a way to somehow invite all my friends to my Google+ account automatically and maybe even update my status for me, I think it will have a hard time catching up. I do have a lot of faith in Google, so don’t count them out just yet. And remember to LIKE this blog on Facebook!

Rob Whent (rwhent@wetech-alliance.com) is the Entrepreneur in Residence at WEtech Alliance, Windsor-Essex’s Regional Innovation Centre and is a pioneer in the digital media space. He has over 20 years’ experience, founding McGill Digital Solutions in 1987 and OTEP Inc. in 2009 (www.otepinc.com). OTEP uses videogames to identify and improve cognition in school age children under the Think-2-Learn brand (www.Think-2-Learn.com). Follow him on Twitter @swento

Related articles

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.